


The Car Fire

by LightInside



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Dorks, F/F, Mako's only mentioned but he's important, Silly, Texting, based on real life, misinterpreted text messages, ridiculous circumstances, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-14
Updated: 2015-07-14
Packaged: 2018-04-09 07:32:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4339526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LightInside/pseuds/LightInside
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Asami gets a rather... unusual text from Korra and her first assumption is just as strange.</p>
<p>"Chapter 2" is actually just an alternative situation from the same premise.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. No it's not

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RenaJay](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RenaJay/gifts).



> Based on an actual text exchange between myself and [Rena](http://www.archiveofourown.org/users/RenaJay). Korra's first text to Asami is word for word what Rena texted me with "earth wall" replacing "plywood board". Asami's response is almost verbatim my response. Korra would totally text in the middle of crazy stuff going down if she wasn't worried and had 5 seconds to spare.

Asami stepped out of the longest meeting of her life. She managed to wait until she rounded a corner in the hallway before releasing the sigh she'd been holding in for half an hour and let her shoulders slump. She'd only really slotted the meeting for forty-five minutes, but she hadn't known that the President would bring his financial advisers, a city planner, _and_ an architect for it. It was just supposed to be for a new park proposal and to draw up a few basic ideas!

She dug in her purse for her phone and was surprised to see that Korra hadn't texted her. She usually snuck peeks during meetings, and would have loved to as this one had dragged on, but refrained since she was dealing with one of the only people who had direct authority over her in the situation. Korra always loved to blow her phone up with random thoughts or flirting, especially when she knew Asami had a meeting.

Pulling up her app, she quickly typed out a text to Korra to see what was up. " _Hey sweetie, I'm finally out of my meeting. How's your day going?"_

The reply was almost immediate, like she already had her phone out. " _Oh you know, just pinned by full auto fire behind an earth wall. How are you?"_

Asami blinked at the text and put her hand to her chin as she sped up toward her car. Korra was supposed to be helping Mako work on his car, the engine had been acting up. She'd been so excited to show off what she'd been learning from helping Asami on her fleet, and with the mechanical mastermind tied up for the day, Mako had grudgingly accepted her help.

Her mind immediately jumped to the only logical conclusion that connected the two, knowing that Korra was still new at this and Mako was Mako and they were both firebenders. One hell of a car fire. FULL AUTO FIRE even. But then why was Korra _texting_ her about it? Surely she was joking. Maybe they went to the gym and were sparring or something. She typed back, _"This is one of those occasions where I can't tell if you're being serious or not. But I hope not. Are you okay?"_

This response was far slower than the last one. Asami's heart felt like it was beating twice as hard and twice as often until the little computer in her hand popped up a notification that said " _So serious, but totally okay."_

Asami relaxed. Okay, they probably did go sparring then. She smiled and shook her head, then texted back,  " _As long as you're okay. Have fun, I'll see you at home_ " before shifting into gear and racing home. It was nice to blow off some steam with a little bit of aggressive driving after that hell of a meeting.

\----

Asami heard the front door swing open about an hour later. She smiled into her book and called down the hallway. "Hey babe! Did you have a good time with Mako? You won't believe what I thought when you texted me like that." She sped up to try to finish the page before Korra met her in the lounge.

"Yeah, I guess. Something like that, anyway. What did you think?" Korra called back as she approached.

She laughed as she put her book down. "I thought you'd somehow set the car on _fire_ and you two were hiding from it or something."

"Why did you think that?"

"It was the first thing that popped into my head when you said you were hiding from 'full auto fire'. How ridiculous is that? A couple of firebenders hiding from a fire." She laughed at how silly she felt.

Korra laughed too. "That is pretty silly. But no, we actually didn't even get a chance to work on the car much." Asami suddenly became confused.

"What? What stopped you?"

Korra looked at her like that was a weird question. "The full auto fire. Some Agni Kais figured out where Mako lived and decided they should just take the city's top detective out while he was off duty. Didn't plan on the Avatar being there though."

Asami's jaw dropped. "WHAT?!"

"Yeah! They hopped out real quick and just started unloading at us, bunch of automatic rifles, but I saw them pull up so I popped up a real thick wall for protection. Mako and I were planning strategy when I got your text so I figured I'd just throw one back to you real quick. That app you rigged up to have my glider find its way to me was super useful! I tossed it out over the wall behind the knuckleheads and then had it pull back to me. Caught a couple guys' knees on the way and knocked them down, and threw the others off long enough for me and Mako to close the distance with an airbending boost. He was cuffing them when I texted you back again. Would have been home sooner but I hung around to give a statement, have to finish the car some other time cause he's going to the station to book them himself."

Asami just stared at her girlfriend. "You... you texted me back... while you were hiding from a bunch of guys actively shooting at you with automatic weaponry." Korra nodded. "And decided to end that text by asking me how I was doing." Another nod."You are insane."

The brown woman shrugged. "Avatar, comes with the territory. What're you gonna do?"

Asami sighed and rubbed her temples. "Die of a heart attack, probably. Maybe try explaining better next time? At least then I can freak out appropriately?"

"I thought I was pretty clear!"

"You were so nonchalant about it, and said you were fine, I thought you were fine!"

"I was fine! We caught the guys and nobody even got hurt."

Asami buried her face in her hands again. After a few seconds she started shaking. Korra quickly moved to reassure her, putting her arm around her girlfriend's shoulder, but when Asami _snorted_ , Korra realized that the shaking was from laughter. Korra gave her a questioning look as Asami lifted her face from her hands. "Car fire..." she managed to get out between gasps. Korra joined her in laughter, and after a minute to calm down, Asami pulled her girlfriend into a kiss. "You're lucky you're okay."


	2. Yes it is

Asami stepped out of the longest meeting of her life. She managed to wait until she rounded a corner in the hallway before releasing the sigh she'd been holding in for half an hour and let her shoulders slump. She'd only really slotted the meeting for forty-five minutes, but she hadn't known that the President would bring his financial advisers, a city planner, _and_ an architect for it. It was just supposed to be for a new park proposal and to draw up a few basic ideas!

She dug in her purse for her phone and was surprised to see that Korra hadn't texted her. She usually snuck peeks during meetings, and would have loved to as this one had dragged on, but refrained since she was dealing with one of the only people who had direct authority over her in the situation. Korra always loved to blow her phone up with random thoughts or flirting, especially when she knew Asami had a meeting.

Pulling up her app, she quickly typed out a text to Korra to see what was up. " _Hey sweetie, I'm finally out of my meeting. How's your day going?"_

She made it to her car before a buzz signaled Korra's response. She was usually quicker than that. Must be busy. " _Oh you know, just pinned by full auto fire behind an earth wall. How are you?"_

Asami blinked at the text and put her hand to her chin. She was supposed to be helping Mako work on his car, the engine had been acting up. She'd been so excited to show off what she'd been learning from helping Asami on her fleet, and with the mechanical mastermind tied up for the day, Mako had grudgingly accepted her help.

Her mind immediately jumped to the only logical conclusion that connected the two, knowing that Korra was still new at this and Mako was Mako and they were both firebenders. One hell of a car fire. FULL AUTO FIRE even. But then why was Korra _texting_ her about it? Surely she was joking. Maybe they went to the gym and were sparring or something. She typed back, _"This is one of those occasions where I can't tell if you're being serious or not. But I hope not. You okay?"_

The response came quicker this time. " _So serious, but totally okay."_

Asami relaxed. Okay, they probably did go sparring then. She smiled and shook her head, then texted back,  " _As long as you're okay. Have fun, I'll see you at home_ " before shifting into gear and racing home. It was nice to blow off some steam after that hell of a meeting.

\----

Asami heard the front door swing open about an hour later. She smiled into her book and called down the hallway. "Hey babe! Did you have a good time with Mako? You won't believe what I thought when you texted me like that." She sped up to try to finish the page before Korra met her in the lounge.

"Yeah, I guess. Something like that, anyway. What did you think?" Korra called back as she approached.

She laughed as she put her book down. "I thought you'd somehow set the car on _fire_ and you two were--"

Korra was standing in the doorway covered in a mixture of grease, oil, and soot, her clothing and hair singed, with at least two burns on her arms. Asami got up and rushed around the couch to her. "Yeah. It was kind of my fault, so I told him we'd buy him a new one." She grinned sheepishly.

Asami stopped in the middle of trying to check on Korra's burns. "Wait, what?"

"I told you! Full auto fire. Whole car went up, right there in the garage! It was actually pretty cool."

Asami wanted to ask several questions, but was still stuck on her first one. "What?"

"Yeah! I thought I had it, so I told Mako to fire it up and see, and I guess one of the tool things we were using fell down in there and caught on a belt and it snapped and then the engine was on fire. Mako jumped out and I tried to bend the fire down, but the grease spread it and it just kind of WHOOSHED into the cab and yeah!" Hand gestures embellished her story.

Asami blinked and shook her head. "Are you kidding me? You just, what? Texted me back? In the middle of trying to not get burned to death after you set Mako's car on fire in his one-car garage?"

"Yeah, pretty much. Once I earthbent us a wall, we were fine. Just trying to figure out what to do about it, I totally had time to text you back." Asami slapped a hand to her forehead. " I airbent a vacuum to kill the fire after that, but the whole car was already trashed. Had to take my glider home since he couldn't give me a ride anymore."

Head already in one hand, Asami just started laughing. "How well do I have to know you two to have called that right?"

"I said auto fire!"

"Your unsupervised mechanic privileges have been revoked."

**Author's Note:**

> I knew Rena was going paintballing, but I did not make the connection between "full auto fire" and paintball rifles. I had just woken up and legitimately thought that she was hiding from a burning car. Her "how are you?" and the fact that she was texting me at all really threw me off. I figured it out a couple texts later and couldn't stop laughing at myself for 10 minutes. It took Rena 15 minutes.
> 
> So I wrote a oneshot about it.


End file.
